The Unmelted Mourner
Armor Class 18 (packed snow and enchanted ice)
Hit Points 210 (20d10+100)
Speed 30 ft. burrow 20 ft.
Saving Throws Con +10, Wis +8, Cha +9
Skills Insight +8, Survival +8, Perception +8
Damage Vulnerabilities fire
Damage Resistances cold; bludgeoning; piercing; slashing
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned, unconscious
Senses darkvision 120 ft., passive Perception 18
Languages Common, Primordial, telepathy 60 ft.
Challenge 15 (13,000 XP) Proficiency Bonus +5
Actions
Bonus Actions
Reactions
Legendary Actions
The Unmelted Mourner can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The Unmelted Mourner regains spent legendary actions at the start of its turn.
Lair
Lair Actions
On initiative count 20 (losing initiative ties), the creature can take a lair action to cause one of the following effects; it can't use the same effect two rounds in a row:
- The House Remembers. A child's toys, drawings, and forgotten belongings animate within a 60-foot-radius area. Until initiative count 20 on the next round, the area is difficult terrain, and each creature of the Unmelted Mourner's choice that enters it or starts its turn there must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened until the end of its turn.
- Sudden Snowfall. Snow falls in a 30-foot-radius cylinder centered on a point the Unmelted Mourner can see within 120 feet. The cylinder is heavily obscured until initiative count 20 on the next round. Creatures inside when it appears must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or take 10 (3d6) cold damage and become restrained until the end of their next turn.
- The Missing Place. A doorway, window, or patch of empty air within the lair becomes a vision of the place where the child last saw the deceased. Each creature within 30 feet of it must succeed on a DC 17 Intelligence saving throw or be incapacitated by grief until the end of its next turn.
Regional Effects
The region containing the creature's lair is warped by its magic, creating the following effects:
- Snow within 6 miles of the Unmelted Mourner never fully melts, even under summer sunlight.
- Children who lose someone within 6 miles dream of a faceless snowman standing outside their homes.
- Every snowfall leaves behind small tracks leading toward the Unmelted Mourner's current location.
- Bonfires and hearths within 1 mile burn blue and cast shadows shaped like reaching hands.
If the silver button in the Unmelted Mourner's core is destroyed, these effects fade over 1d10 days. Otherwise, they follow the creature when it relocates.
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"He said she would come back when the snowman was finished. So I made sure the snowman would never finish." — Elian Voss, written in a child's hand
Lore & Description
Appearance
The Unmelted Mourner is a towering snowman nearly ten feet tall, built from three uneven spheres of gray-white snow packed around a child-sized winter coat. Coal-black buttons form a crooked smile that never changes, while two polished stones sit where tears would fall. Its long carrot nose is split and frostbitten, its twig fingers curl like grasping hands, and a faded red scarf trails behind it no matter how still the air. Deep within its chest rests a tarnished silver button, warm with the stubborn pulse of an absent heart.
Behavior & Origins
The creature was first built by a child named Elian Voss outside the village of Bellwether after his older sister Mara died during a blizzard. Elian promised the snowman that Mara would never be forgotten and refused to take it down when spring came. That refusal became a supernatural anchor, and the snowman learned to move, remember, and hunt anything that tried to end its vigil. It does not understand death; it believes every person it attacks is trying to make someone disappear. The Unmelted Mourner currently seeks the old bell tower at Saint Orra's Hospice, where Mara's name was carved into a memorial wall. A grieving child who speaks to it gently can persuade it to pause, but only someone who recites Mara's full name and willingly gives up a cherished memory can reveal the silver button in its core.
Running The Unmelted Mourner
Tactics
The Unmelted Mourner opens with Whiteout of Mourning, using the storm to isolate the most emotionally vulnerable creature before closing in with Snowstep and its fists. It keeps enemies restrained or frightened while using Bury the Memory against healers, leaders, and anyone carrying a keepsake tied to loss. When bloodied, it retreats through snow to force pursuit and reappears near a loved one's grave, home, or treasured possession. It fights to the death if anyone threatens the silver button or Mara's memorial, though destroying its body only relocates the encounter unless the button is dealt with.
DM Tips
- Telegraph its approach with snow that does not melt, children's footprints circling campsites, and a red scarf visible through blizzards before the monster appears.
- Roleplay it in a soft child's voice, alternating between possessive phrases such as "Don't take her away" and unsettlingly literal questions about where the dead have gone.
- Make relocation meaningful: after it is defeated, show the party a fresh snowman outside an NPC's home, beside a grave, or in the next settlement they visit.
- For a weaker party, remove Legendary Resistance and reduce Whiteout of Mourning to 8d8 damage; for a stronger party, let Child's Refusal relocate it after 1 hour and give it a second use of Whiteout of Mourning.
Loot
- Mara's Silver Button — The enchanted button from the creature's core. Destroying it prevents the Unmelted Mourner from relocating, while keeping it allows the bearer to cast speak with dead once before the button tarnishes and becomes mundane.
- The Red Scarf — A child's wool scarf that never becomes wet or cold. It grants advantage on saving throws against magical fear, but its wearer occasionally hears Elian whispering nearby.
- Snowglobe of Bellwether — A cloudy glass globe found beneath the creature's collapsed body. When shaken, it shows the location of the nearest person currently grieving and leaves a trail of frost pointing toward them.
